Manmohan Singh can salvage his legacy with a Nepal visit

Visiting India on a recent three-day official tour, Nepal’s minister for foreign and home affairs Madhav Ghimire may have just given the Manmohan Singh administration one last chance to salvage what has been a disappointing five years of foreign policy. Ghimire invited Singh to visit Nepal, something that the Indian Prime Minister said he would be more than happy to do once a new government is formed in the Himalayan republic. Later, in an interaction with the press, Ghimire told this author that not only the political parties but even the people of Nepal want Singh to visit their country. After all, it has been more than 15 years since the last Indian PM undertook an official visit to Kathmandu — Inder Kumar Gujral’s 1997 visit is still hailed as a landmark in bilateral ties.

It is surprising that despite his 10-year tenure, Singh and his advisers did not find it prudent to arrange for a Kathmandu visit. Singh’s obsession with conjuring up a Pakistan visit — something he still hopes to achieve before the end of his term — is partly responsible for this. It is ironic that in spite of his personal interest, relations with Pakistan over the course of the two UPA governments have been tumultuous to say the least. From the 26/11 terrorist attack on Mumbai to cross-border firing and low-intensity skirmishes, Singh’s dream of a grand détente with Pakistan lies in tatters. And given the impending US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of the year, there is every reason to believe that India’s western front will remain hot in the near future.

Madhav Ghimire, Nepal’s minister of home and foreign affairs

In fact, this is one of the main reasons why New Delhi needs to secure its eastern and northeastern flanks. And given Nepal’s strategic geographical location, India risks ignoring it at its own peril. While there is no denying that India and Nepal share strong historical, cultural and religious ties; these cannot be taken for granted. China too has significant strategic interests in Nepal and deep pockets. Add to this the fact that Nepal is going through a crucial period of its democratic transition, and it is easy to see why India can’t afford to remain complacent.

Following the abolition of Nepal’s constitutional monarchy, the first Constituent Assembly (CA) — which also doubles up as the country’s Parliament — formed in 2008 failed to achieve its primary objective: drafting of a new Constitution. In fact, the CA had become an indecisive body with the major political parties playing musical chairs to lead different government formations. The period saw as many as four different PMs — excluding Girija Prasad Koirala and Khil Raj Regmi — and policymaking suffered.

Meanwhile, differences between the parties on issues such as the character of Nepali citizenship and nature of federalism meant that Nepal continued to remain in constitutional limbo. Such failures started frustrating a section of the polity leading to the rise of the splinter Maoist group led by Mohan Baidya and the pro-monarchy Rastriya Prajatantra Party. While the former gave a call for a return to the revolutionary path, the latter pitched for a return to constitutional monarchy.

It is in this context that the decision was taken to hand over power to an interim dispensation led by chief justice Khil Raj Regmi. The latter’s primary agenda was to conduct fresh CA polls to breathe new life into a body that had become stale and sclerotic. In November last year, polls were successfully conducted, the credit for which goes to Regmi and his interim council of ministers of which Madhav Ghimire was a crucial member.

It is at this crucial juncture that India must support Nepal’s democratic process. And nothing signals this better than a much-awaited Indian PM visit to Nepal. Besides, it would also help mitigate the perception that New Delhi maintains a big-brotherly attitude towards Kathmandu. As it is, a large section of Nepalis believe that India’s arrogance is underpinned by a deplorable sense of superiority. Hence, the Indian political leadership must go the extra mile to put such suspicions to rest.

Finally, as his tenure comes to end, Manmohan Singh will surely be thinking about his legacy. He betrayed this when he recently said that history will judge him differently. That may not be true. His two coveted foreign policy efforts – with the US and with Pakistan — have yielded little (the Devyani Khobragade episode has ensured that Washington won’t be thinking of a strategic initiative with New Delhi anytime soon). But Singh can still salvage his legacy if he shows the sagacity to undertake a Nepal visit before demitting office. History will surely remember him then.